This invention relates to improvements in a method and device for washing drain pipes for washing drain pipes and other pipeline facilities installed in apartment buildings, other buildings and the like.
A conventional head deployed on the end of a high pressure hose used in washing pipeline facilities is constituted by a nozzle having multiple injection holes made therein at a prescribed pitch about the circular circumference thereof for jetting high pressure water in a radiating manner obliquely rearward relative to the direction of advance of the jetted water, and a universal guide linked to the leading end of the nozzle.
As is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-open No. S55-20380 and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. S49-37403, such a high pressure hose is accommodated in a revolving drum and the high pressure hose is made to turn by tuning the revolving drum.
The nozzle linked to the leading end of the high pressure hose described above, as indicated in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. S54-110658, advances inside the drain pipe while tuning, due to the propulsion produced by the high pressure water jetted from the nozzles and the operations of pulling out and turning the high pressure hose from the revolving drum, and the inner peripheral surfaces of the pipe are washed thereby.
The drain pipes subject to the washing described above may be largely categorized into vertical pipes and lateral pipes. When, using the conventional device for washing drain pipe described in the foregoing, a high pressure hose is made to turn inside a vertical pipe, thereby causing the nozzle linked to the leading end of that high pressure hose to turn, the nozzle turns along the inner peripheral surface of the vertical pipe.
When, in this condition, the high pressure hose is pulled out of the revolving drum a little at a time and fed into the vertical pipe, the nozzle advances while turning, in a spiral turning manner, along the inner peripheral surface of the vertical pipe, whereupon the solid material adhering to the inner peripheral surface of the vertical pipe is broken up and removed by the high pressure water jetted from the nozzle.
When the drain pipe is a lateral pipe, on the other hand, even if the high pressure hose is made to turn inside the lateral pipe, the nozzle will be acted on by its own weight toward the bottom of the pipe, wherefore it will not turn along the inner peripheral surface of the pipe.
Accordingly, when the drain pipe is a lateral pipe, when the high pressure hose is made to turn inside the lateral pipe, and the high pressure hose is pulled out from the revolving drum a little at a time and fed into the pipe, the nozzle will merely advance linearly along the bottom of the lateral pipe, there will be no spiral turning along the inner peripheral surface of the lateral pipe, and the washing force on the inner circumference surfaces of the lateral pipe will be particularly poor on the upper part of the lateral pipe. This constitutes a problem.
Also, the injection pressure of the high pressure water jetted from the injection holes in the nozzle declines the farther the injection holes are from the pipe wall, therefore making it difficult to break up the solid material adhering at the upper part of a lateral pipe, at positions far from the pipe bottom, with high pressure water. In order to break up that solid material, it is thought necessary to have equipment that delivers a larger quantity of water at higher pressures. In terms of this point also, conventional devices have not been able to wash pipe interiors evenly and efficiently.
Furthermore, the conventional nozzle described in the foregoing is structured so that it obtains a propulsive force due to the high pressure water jetted obliquely rearward, and is thus self-propelled, wherefore it is necessary first to pull the nozzle back when repeatedly washing a particular position in the pipe, for example. In such cases, however, the nozzle obtains great propulsive force due to the jetting of the high pressure water, making a large force necessary to pull it back, which constitutes an actual difficulty. Thereupon, conventionally, when repeatedly washing a particular position in a pipe, a complicated and troublesome procedure is required wherewith the jetting of the high pressure water is first terminated, the nozzle is then pulled back behind the certain position, and, thereafter, the high pressure water is again jetted obliquely rearward, causing the nozzle to be self-propelled, thus causing the nozzle to again pass over and wash the particular position that is the object of washing.
In recent years, moreover, when washing drain pipes in condominium buildings and the like, instead of inserting the nozzle into the drain pipe from a starting point that is the starting end (the starting end of the drain pipe connected to a waste water facility such as a sink or commode) of that drain pipe installed in each apartment, as conventionally, and then beginning the washing, the nozzle is being inserted into the drain pipe from a starting point that is a drain pipe in a drain pipe centralized control unit performing centralized deployment control on the back end of drain pipes extended from each apartment, whereupon the washing is begun toward the starting end of the drain pipe in each apartment.
When, in this manner, the washing of drain pipes is begun from the back end thereof, for each apartment, that is, in a drain pipe centralized control unit, drain pipe washing can be done simply, even when the resident of the apartment is not at home.
In such cases, when a conventional device for washing drain pipe is used, and a drain pipe is washed, jetting high pressure water in a radiating manner only obliquely rearward relative to the direction of nozzle advance, the structure is such that the nozzle is self-propelled toward the direction of advance by the reaction when that high pressure water impacts the pipe wall, wherefore a negative pressure is readily generated by the high pressure water being jetted obliquely rearward inside the drain pipe forward of the nozzle in the direction of advance thereof. That negative pressure causes water in the water trap valve at the starting end of the drain pipe of each apartment to be sucked in, and there is a danger that the water trap valve will be destroyed.
Such a water trap valve is ordinarily formed at the starting end of a drain pipe connected to a waste water facility such as a xe2x80x9csink or bath tub, etc.xe2x80x9d The water retained therein prevents outside air, and particularly odors and small animals and the like, from invading the apartment through the drain pipe. When this trap is destroyed, there is a danger that foul odors will pass through the drain pipe and fill the interior of the apartment.
Accordingly, a first object of the present invention is to provide a method and device for washing drain pipe wherewith a nozzle can be made to turn along the interior circumference surface of a pipe, even in a lateral pipe.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a method and device for washing drain pipe wherewith, not only can a nozzle be made to turn along the interior circumference surface of a pipe, even in a lateral pipe, but a specific position in the pipe can be repeatedly washed with a simple operation.
A third object of the present invention is to provide a method and device for washing drain pipe wherewith, not only can a nozzle be made to turn along the interior circumference surface of a pipe, even in a lateral pipe, but the water trap valve is not destroyed.
In order to attain the first object stated above, in a first method and device for washing drain pipe of the present invention, in a method of washing drain pipe wherewith a nozzle is provided at the leading end of a high pressure hose, a universal guide is linked to the leading end of that nozzle, high pressure water is jetted obliquely rearward from a plurality of injection holes opened in the nozzle, a propulsion force is generated in the nozzle by the jetting force, the high pressure hose is fed into a drain pipe while causing that high pressure hose to turn, and the interior of the pipe is washed by the high pressure water jetted from the nozzle, the nozzle is made to turn in a spiral manner along the inner peripheral surface of the pipe, in conjunction with the turning and pulling out of the high pressure hose, so that, of the plurality of injection holes, only a certain injection hole is always in opposition to the inner peripheral surface of the pipe.
In order to attain the second object stated above, moreover, in a second method and device for washing drain pipe of the present invention, in a method of washing drain pipe wherewith a nozzle is provided at the leading end of a high pressure hose, a universal guide is linked to the leading end of that nozzle, high pressure water is jetted from a plurality of injection holes opened in the nozzle, the high pressure hose is fed into a drain pipe while causing that high pressure hose to turn, and the interior of the pipe is washed by the high pressure water jetted from the nozzle, in addition to making the nozzle turn in a spiral manner, in conjunction with the turning, pulling out, and pulling back operations on the high pressure hose, so that, of the plurality of injection holes, only a certain injection hole is always in opposition to the inner peripheral surface of the pipe, the diameter of the certain injection hole is set larger than the diameters of the other injection holes, and the angle xcex1 subtended by the center axis line I of that certain injection hole and the center axis line H of the nozzle, and the angles xcex2 subtended by the center axis line J of the other injection holes and the center axis line H of the nozzle, respectively, are set at 90 degrees.
In order to attain the third object stated above, moreover, in a third method and device for washing drain pipe of the present invention, in a method of washing drain pipe wherewith a nozzle is provided at the leading end of a high pressure hose, a universal guide is linked to the leading end of that nozzle, high pressure water is jetted from a plurality of injection holes opened in the nozzle, the high pressure hose is fed into a drain pipe while causing that high pressure hose to turn, and the interior of the pipe is washed by the high pressure water jetted from the nozzle, in addition to making the nozzle turn in a spiral manner, in conjunction with the turning and feeding operations on the high pressure hose, so that, of the plurality of injection holes, only a certain injection hole is always in opposition to the inner peripheral surface of the pipe, the diameter of the certain injection hole is set larger than the diameters of the other injection holes, the certain injection hole is formed so that the position thereof is farther rearward than the positions of the other injection holes as seen from the direction of advance of the nozzle, the angle xcex1 subtended by the center axis line I of that certain injection hole and the center axis line H of the nozzle is made an acute angle, and the angles xcex2 subtended by the center axis line J of the other injection holes and the center axis line H of the nozzle, respectively, are set at substantially 90 degrees.